Friday, March 11, 2011

Philippine Ink

Hehe I’ve always been fascinated with tattoos. Whenever I see tattoo shops/parlors I always stop & admire the pictures displayed on the window-if someone’s being inked inside & I can watch, so much the better! I thought about getting one a few years back. It was more of just thinking about it, the idea of getting one was so exciting! I was thinking of all these designs that I like. Designs-plural. I wasn’t really sure on what to get yet so good thing I was able to snap myself back to reality & stopped myself before I had something inked that I would later regret. I think that each piece of tattoo that you decide to have should have meaning to you, it should be personal and the design should be well thought of & not on a whim. Maybe this is just me, but that’s the state of mind I wanted to be in when I finally decide on mine. I wanted something ‘cute’ but not overly so; I didn’t want floral stuff or skull & bones and as much as I love Hello Kitty I don’t want that inked on me-though I did see a few on the net that looked great, hehe. I always liked stars also (aside from HK) so I decided to get stars. I’ve watched episodes of Miami & L.A. Ink and I saw how each person would describe what they want to the artist and the artist would interpret these & draw them into what would be the design of the tattoo. I’m thinking that it should be the same here, right? I will describe what I want & think that the artist can help me interpret what I want into a design. I want to draw it myself but sad to say, for a lefty like me (who people say are creative), I can’t draw to save my life. Also, it’s all about location, location, location! I don’t have anything against people who have it on their shoulder blades, arms, shins, or hips but I want mine to be a little discreet, not to hide it, but I’m getting one for myself not for everyone else so I decided to get one on my inner heel (picture #1). I don’t want the tattoo to be ridiculously small that it would look like dirt but I don’t it to be humongous either. My tattoo would consist of 6 stars-1 for each member of my family (parents+4 siblings). I want it to be colored and of course, I’ll be the pink star, haha! I’m thinking daddy would be red, then mommy would be green (fave color), 1 sister is purple (her fave too) now for the 2 youngest, they’d have to talk it out between them because the other sister’s favorite color is blue but the youngest is the only boy, he’ll just be yellow, I guess. Not like the stars would have names, it’s just that I have to associate them with a color because they’ll be representing a star. I wanted the cluster of stars to represent my family because I want them to be with me wherever I go. I know, they’re in my heart & all but it’s a different reminder, I’ll see my star everyday and it will remind me how they will always be with me whatever I choose to do because family is family. People will come & go but family will never go away.

Picture #1

The fun part-the design! I want the stars to be drawn like this (Picture #2) but I don’t want the thick border of the largest star in the photo, a thin black border would do. The shade of pink for my star should be the same pink as is in Picture #3. I like the pink & aqua combination in the 3rd photo, when I saw this picture I decided that I wanted my tattoo to be more on the pastel shades but I want daddy star to be red so I guess I’ll discuss color options with the artist when I’m there.

Picture #2

Picture #3

Now, where does BF fit into all of these? Ha, persistence paid off. A few years back, whenever the topic of tattoo is brought up & I would tell him that I wanted one he’ll just look at me funny like he’s thinking in his mind ‘yeah yeah, sure sure’ but when I decided that I’m really getting one and he saw that I was serious about it he eventually got okay with the idea. My dear parents, I told my mom about it & she just told me to think about it a million times since once I get it there’s no turning back. My dad is a different issue altogether. When my cousin came home from Sydney last February we went to Boracay and, of course, we were in bikinis and my cousin has 2 tattoos on her hips-1 is a tribal thing & the other is a combination of the 1st letters of her name plus her siblings. When my dad saw them he asked his sister if they were real & when my tita told him that they were he just sort of said ‘ahhh’ but his face looked funny. So this is the only bottleneck in my whole tattoo plan. Some would say that once I get one I won’t be able to donate blood which is so not the case. You can still donate blood but not until after a period of time since your last tattoo. Though some hospitals and/or blood banks would really say it or have it posted in the reception area that they prefer if you didn’t have any tattoos-this is just a preference, it doesn’t necessarily mean you can’t donate blood. Because of this, I googled some tidbits of info regarding this and here are some stuff I found:

After a getting a tattoo: you can’t donate blood until 12 months has passed; if you got a new piercing, you’ll just have to wait 6 months. -When I haven’t read on stuff yet, I was confused because some were saying 6 some were saying 12 months. Apparently, it’s different for tattoos & piercings.

Just in case for some weird reason you lie about how long you had your last tattoo or piercing & just in case you did get something from the needles they’ll still screen your blood for any abnormalities or diseases anyway; they just ask you right off the bat so as not to waste the time of the donor and the hospital or blood bank.

Now I get it, check this out >> If you should happen to contract a disease from a tattoo or piercing, it should show up in a screening after 12 months, which is the reason for the waiting period. That’s why!

Here are some of the tattoos that found very graphic, interesting, creative & amazing that I saved from the many times I googled tattoos on the internet, enjoy!